Have you ever wondered what if? What would our world be like if the Trojans had never accepted that wooden horse? Or what if President Lincoln was not able to successfully join the North and the South? How would our world be different today? Harry Turtledove explores these types of questions through an alternative history within Opening Atlantis. In this world, North America is not a single landmass, but rather it is broken up by a huge ocean over what would be considered the Mid-west of the U.S. The east coast of this partially submerged continent has been dubbed Atlantis. Specifically, the novel follows different generations the Radcliffe family (one of the original discovers of this new continent) and explores how the people and how Atlantis itself changes over the course of a few centuries. While it explores interesting questions such as the cost that “societal progress” has on both the people and nature of a land, it also provides high paced drama, intrigue, and yes, dare I say even pirates. What more could you ask for?